Hungary’s Orban visits Ukraine for the first time since the war began

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Russia’s closest European ally, met with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday during his first visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion more than two years ago.

Orban is widely supportive of Russia and is considered the EU politician with the warmest relationship with President Vladimir Putin. During the war, he obstructed the EU’s sanctions efforts against Moscow and did not allow donated Western weapons to be delivered to Ukraine.

The Hungarian president said the war was “the most important issue for Europe,” Related Pressand stated: “The question of peace is not only important for Ukraine, it is important for the whole of Europe.”

He suggested that Ukraine should agree to a ceasefire with Russia to end the war. Kyiv has repeatedly rejected any negotiated solution to end the war that involves giving up Ukrainian territory, arguing that such a deal would buy Russia time to rearm and then resume its attempts to conquer the whole country.

“This war you are now suffering from has profound implications for European security,” Orban said.

Despite his pro-Russian stance during the war, Orban seemed to have opened the door for new relations in the future.

“We are trying to put the disputes of the past behind us and focus on the future,” Orban said. “We want relations between our two countries to become much better.”

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“We also talked about the humanitarian sphere – about everything that concerns the lives of our people both in Ukraine and Hungary,” Zelensky said. “The content of our dialogue today on all these issues can form the basis for a new bilateral document between our countries that will regulate all our relations, be based on a mutual approach to bilateral relations between Ukraine and Hungary and allow our peoples to enjoy all the benefits of unity in Europe.”

During the meeting between the two leaders, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov visited the Pentagon to meet with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Austin announced that the United States would soon release its latest aid package, which he said would be worth more than $2.3 billion.